Limbaugh: Sequester Panic Like Y2K

Rush Limbaugh said today that Democrats are worried that nothing bad will happen if lawmakers don’t reach a deal on the sequester and that they’ll be perceived as Y2K “panic-filled kooks.”

“[Democrats are] worried the sequester’s gonna happen and nobody’s gonna notice. They’re worried it’s gonna be like a Y2K. Everything was supposed to come to a screeching halt, but it didn’t. You look back on it, and all those Y2K people are now viewed as a bunch of panic-filled kooks, right? Well, that’s what they’re afraid of here,” the conservative commentator said on his radio program, according to a show transcript.

President Barack Obama and the Democrats have warned that the economy will be negatively impacted if a deal is not met on the sequester, the $1.2 trillion decade-long cuts in federal spending that begin March 1 if no deal is met. Obama has said that the effects could lead to everything from fewer federal food inspections to longer lines at the airport.

Limbaugh said the Democrats want that to happen for their political gain.

“So the Democrats are in a position where they’re almost hoping for disasters to occur here and there so that they will be validated,” Limbaugh said. “The worst thing that can happen is for this sequester to happen after Obama’s made all these disaster predictions and everything ends up fine and nobody even notices, because then the conclusion is, ‘Well, we can cut government, and there’s no harm.'”

He added: “It’s like I said in the last hour. We’re cutting the equivalent of 1 cent on the dollar. (sigh) Actually that’s misleading, too, because we’re actually going to be spending more this year than last year even with the sequester.”